The Shrinking Safety Zone: The Rise of Anti-Semitism World Wide

Recently, Jewish rapper Matisyahu was disinvited to a Spanish music festival for refusing to sign a statement stating that he was pro-Palistine. This is only the latest in an increasing number of anti-simetic incidents world wide.
Matisyahu stated on his Facebook page:"Honestly, it was appalling and offensive that as the one publicly Jewish-American artist scheduled for the festival they were trying to coerce me into political statements."
All across Europe there has been an increase in anti-semetic acts. In a recent survey taken by the Pew Research Center 34 out of 45 European countries reported that Jews are harassed and anti-semitism is the highest its been in seven years world wide.
According to U.S. News, "Today’s anti-Semitism differs from that of the 1930s. There is no single counterpart to Hitler. There is no one European government or leader fueling most of today’s anti-Jewish acts. Nonetheless, Europe’s leading heads of state acknowledge that Jew-hatred is spreading. Jews are seeing their religious freedom violated, their grave sites vandalized, their synagogues desecrated, and Jewish lives lost."
Sadly, this is not limited to Europe. The Anti-Defimation League posted their annual log stating that anti-semitism is up 21% in the US from the last calendar year. They report 203 instances in New York, 184 in California, and 107 in New Jersey, among others.
What's even more worrying is that Times of Israel released an article stating that hating Jews in the US has become "fashionable." And according to the writer, it isn't the first time that these hateful trends were seen in the US.
Freaked out yet?
For Jews, there seem to be less and less places where they can feel safe. So far, the violence and vandalism has not had any victims that were children. Still, with the rise of anti-semitism in not only the US, but worldwide, it seems like only a matter of time before ignorant and hateful people start targeting children as well.
The truth is that the level of tolerance in the US is low. Thanks to movement like Black Lives Matters  US residents are aware of the many ways that the sense of "otherness" is able to frighten people. Still, the problem is when people turn a blind eye to anti-semitism as if it never existed.
In February, a woman in Boise, ID had a neighbor stand on her neck until she claimed that she believed in Jesus. Later that same month, 30 swastikas were scribed on mailboxes in Wisconsin. There is always an onslaught of vandalism and shooting around the Jewish High Holidays. Even with this blatant expression of hatred, people still turn away or shrug it off.
These are irrational acts performed by demented people. These types of people can not be reasoned with. Sadly, the trends that are being seen today are very similar to the warning signs that were detected in events that led to the holocaust. Eleven million people were killed in the name of racial purity. Equally sad, is the fact that today, people's attitude toward Jews are the same. This time, the signs can help avoid the repetition of the horrific events that happened in Europe during WWI and WWII.
The number of hate crimes against Jews rising all over the world are enough to send any parent that identifies with Judaism into panic. The scary thing is that people don't want to know what's happening to the Jews. On the other side of that coin, there are the people who think that the Jews somehow deserve to be hated. And that thought is truly, truly frightening.

The Ongoing Shame of Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding is a wonderful way for mother and child to build an unshakable bond. Not only that, but breastfeeding offers an array of essential heath benefits to both mother and child. In many states in the U.S. woman are allowed to breastfeed in public without covering their chest. This is done, but not without a shocking amount of backlash. 

Canadian columnist Kristin Thompson stated, "Breastfeeding is not gross. It’s natural, it’s important and it’s really difficult. So it’s shocking to me that mothers are being shamed for doing it in public — and by other women."

Photographer Erin White set out to try and lift some of the fidgetiness that some people feel about breastfeeding in public. Her photo shoot "Women in the Wild" featured breastfeeding mothers of all shapes and sizes nursing their children in what ever stage of "modesty" the women felt comfortable in. White stated that the shoot turned out to be "undeniably beautiful" but what she didn't expect was that the photo shoot also turned out to be taboo. 

"What did I see that others did not?" White said, "On our BabyCenter Facebook page, the mood veered from adulation to offended — to the point where one reader commented, “This isn’t art, it’s pornographic.”

There is nothing "pornographic" about a woman standing in a forest, completely covered, save for her breast, feeding her small child. It's beautiful. Obviously, not everybody feels that way.

Breastfeeding in public is an ongoing battle. Mothers who feed their children at the mall or at the park are immediately shamed by the people around them. The twist is that the shaming often come from other mothers. In the U.S. the average mother does not breastfeed past six months. If a mother does choose to breastfeed past six months, her judgement is called into play. 

The most popular question asked is, "What is so hard about covering up in public while breastfeeding?"

The answer is that the mother shouldn't have to cover. There is nothing wrong with feeding a child who needs or wants the comforting breastfeeding experience, let it be in the grocery store or in a restaurant. 

The fear of the exposed human body caused people to lash out. People project their own feelings of uncomfortableness that they feel about their own bodies (men and women) on someone who seems to not share in that common concern. 

U.S. society it overly sexually charged. If a mother breastfeeds a child uncovered, she's accused of not being modest. At the same time, men and women walk around in clothes that do not leave much to the imagination and are automatically accepted.
A woman's breast was made for a simple function. It developed so a mother can feed her baby. There is nothing wrong, or indecent about feeding a child, no matter how old they are or how exposed the mother is. The problem is not the mothers who breastfeed in public (covered or not), the problem is the society that feels the that they have not only the need, but the right to shame her.